Staccato
by Wicked R
Summary: Forget that the last ten minutes of the finale happened so Elena's still human. Damon goes on a self destructive phaze following her phone call.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Staccato

Disclaimers: I don't own any supernatural powers or anything else to do with TVD. It would be a completely different show if I did.

Genre: hurt/comfort, big time.

Summary/Set: Forget that the last ten minutes of the finale happened so Elena's still human. Damon goes on a self destructive faze following her phone call.

Pairing: Canon, eventually Delena.

Elena knew it couldn't have been long since she fell asleep, but was alert immediately after glancing at her buzzing phone, "Jeremy? Everything all right?"

"With me? Yeah, I'm at work, it's closing time at the Grill, we're just cleaning up and kicking the last few customers out. I'm just not sure if it is a good idea letting Damon loose at the moment. I'm thinking maybe you should try taking him home, if he'd listen to anyone it'd be you."

"Is he very drunk?" Elena got nervous. Damon loosing control wasn't usually a good foretoken to any night.

"I don't know how much his vampire constitution can take, but when he came in here two hours ago he was slurring and I had to help him over to a booth. Since then, he had three bottles of bourbon and he's on his second bottle of brandy so I'm guessing yes. Not to mention the boys were having trouble disagreeing with him earlier and I don't fancy their chances when we want to close."

"It's okay, just let him sit there, I'm on my way," Elena promised, dressing promptly. When fifteen minutes later she arrived to the now dimly lit tavern, she found Jeremy counting the money in the till, "correction, third bottle of brandy," he whispered to her as she passed the bar towards the corner Jeremy nodded at, "I've put a little vervain in the last couple of his bottles, I thought it'd slow him down a little." Damon was resting with his head on his arms, his face out of view, not reacting to her approaching footsteps in the empty, quietened down Grill, but there was an overpowering smell of alcohol even so around him.

"Damon?" She tried to attract his attention and sat down opposite him at his table, anticipating that taking him home in his current condition will take quite a lot of time. "Damon!" He didn't seem to hear her, but up close she noticed, hoping she was mistaken, that his shoulders were shaking. She scooted nearer to him round the booth and put a hand on his upper arm, feeling his shaking body now for sure, affirming her suspicions. "Damon, are you all right?" She winced sympathetically. A low, nonthreatening sounding groan was the response, then one of his hands shot out to clutch the bottle and he quickly lifted it to his mouth, raising his head and downing several long gulps before Elena lowered her surprised eyebrows and took in his dishevelled, somewhat sickly appearance. "Did something happen? Talk to me Damon."

"Came to say good bye oh you immaculate, innocent maiden?" He mumbled with Elena barely able to guess the words, but there was one thing that certainly got her attention amongst them all, "nobody's saying good bye to anyone Damon, don't you remember, Bonnie's got everything under control."

Damon smirked at her, his eyes spinning with which he managed to make himself dizzy and had to steady himself by the side of the table, but eventually he managed to fumble in his pockets and produced some papers he tapped with his index fingertip, "my plane tickets to Italy."

Elena pulled the documents towards her to read, making the mistake of ignoring Damon enough for him to resort to the bottle again. "The flight isn't till tomorrow night. Why are you going?"

"You have to ask?"

The brunette shook her head, "if that's what you want.." She gulped hard, "you know I don't want to loose you, but I understand it's selfish of me to want both of you."

"It's not what I want!" Damon hit the table hard with his fist, making it crack a little to which Jeremy gave Elena an urging look. "It's what I promised my brother I'd do!"

Elena shook her head, frowning, "Stefan told you to go? And since when do you follow his advice?"

"Mutual," he hiccuped, "agreement."

The girl bit her bottom lip, "I still don't understand, but why don't you explain it all to me tomorrow? You need to sleep this off first."

"Can't," Damon stood, holding onto the table as his head acted like upwards was sideways, "plane to catch and all. Long driveto Fort Lauderdale International Airport," he splayed both palms on the surface, trying to get his head together for walking out.

"You shouldn't drive like this," Elena stated urgently.

"Vampire, babe, remember?"

"Maybe so, but you're endangering others, let me drive," she instinctively held out her arms to steady Damon.

He planted his feet purposefully firm and pushed her away, "I need to go, this touching, too much. How much can a man take you think?" He propelled himself forward holding on to the bar and the wall as he stumbled outwards, but still managed to snatch a new bottle, wine this time, whatever he could find, from the counter. "Add it to the Salvatore account, boy," he waved it towards Jeremy.

"Damon, you can't just leave like this, we haven't even had the chance to say good bye!" Elena trailed after him despairing.

"That's the idea, sweetheart," his intended smirk turned out like a grimace.

"Look at the state of you and it's the full moon! Anything could happen," the girl didn't back off, following him out into the parking lot.

"You and Stefan both. You only give a damn if I'm dying," he spat, literally, having to stop by the wall as a wave of nausea passed through him. He didn't remember the last time when he drank so much, but the feeling was still odd.

"You know that's not true," Elena used his momentary slowness to plant herself into the passenger seat of his car, "and to prove that, I'm coming with you."

"Elena," he slumped beside her, "I'm not driving drunk when you're in the car."

"That's the idea, sweetheart," she repeated his earlier mocking, "to get what I want. And by the way, you haven't even packed. Should we go back to the boarding house to get some clothes at least?"

Damon stared at her cocking his head towards her, "right. You win this time, but I would've been out of here a long time ago if your dear baby brother didn't spice my drink."

Elena sighed, "get out already and let me scoot over," she wasn't going to leave the car in case he would've sped off.

"Did you intentionally need to make me dizzy?" Damon complained after running round the convertible and held his head.

The young woman put the Chevy into gear, ignoring him. Driving deep in thought, she wondered if Damon was really going to leave Mystic Falls till he startled her by putting a hand on the steering wheel as they rolled down a hill in the middle of nowhere. "Stop," he grunted in a very grumbling way.

"Why now! We've been through this, we're going to the boarding house so you can sleep off this.."

"I'm gonna throw up," he held a fist to his mouth.

Elena glanced at him doubtfully, "vampires don't throw up..uhm..or they do," she corrected herself watching Damon lean forward and get rid of at least the contents of one previously ingested bottle, "Damon are you ok? You haven't got bitten have you?"

"Ugh, I need a drink," Damon wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket.

"You mean blood?" Elena chose to assume, not wanting to imagine the vampire any more drunk than he already was.

Damon didn't answer this time, just leant back on his seat closing his eyes and rubbing his stomach. Elena rolled down the window to get rid of the smell, not liking the situation one bit. She stepped on the gas, wanting to get to the boarding house as soon as possible, hoping Stefan would be able to help make light of the occurrence.

Tbc


	2. Home

Chapter 2: Home

Stefan stood up from the couch, intrigued by the footsteps that followed Damon's Camaro arriving. Elena's "help me Stefan" didn't find him unawares as he was already rushing forward to relieve the strain of Elena hauling Damon in the door. "What happened?" The younger Salvatore asked while taking his brother's arm that his girlfriend wasn't holding onto.

"Jeremy vervained him, that's true, but I thought you had quite a good tolerance to it now and he's also very drunk to state the obvious," Elena sighed a bit relieved as Stefan had decided to take all of Damon's weight off her, "but I don't understand why he was sick, is that even possible?"

Stefan rose his eyebrows, "it happened to me once when I was trying out the boundaries of vampirism way back at the beginning," he deposited the half asleep looking Damon onto the couch, "had to know how much is manageable to drink without consequences. I think probably every vampire experiments with that. Damon tends to do that experiment more than once though," he added sardonically.

"I feel so responsible Stefan, he wouldn't be in this state if didn't reject him again."

"He is standing right here, listening to you lovers' little tiff in the making," Damon said from beside the drinks cabinet, opening one of his vintage, special occasion bottles of bourbon. "What?" He added at their looks, "I was starting to feel like I was sobering up a bit," he tilted the beverage to his mouth.

"Damon, you can't be serious!" Elena complained, charging towards him.

"I don't think that you of all people could have the right to tell me what to do or what not to do. Feeling too self important, princess?" The older Salvatore dodged her, speeding round the furniture faster than her even though he was bumping into things and brought a few books tumbling down to the floor.

"Stefan! Do something!" Elena looked at him exasperated.

"All right, go and get a blood bag, I'm going to try to keep him under control. He just loves the dramatic, my brother," Stefan scoffed.

Elena rushed down the stairs to the basement, but was hurrying up even more on the way back at the sound of clatter, thumping and grunts. She didn't even see the Salvarores yet, but she was shouting from round the corner, "stop it! Damon, Stefan, stop it!"

"There was only one way of keeping him under control," the younger vampire claimed, sitting on top if his seething sibling.

"What have you done!" Elena ran to drop at their side and dislodged the stake holding Damon's right hand to the flooring.

"He wasn't very agreeable when I tried to take his drink off him," Stefan excused himself, "it's not very wise doing that to a drunken vampire, let alone Damon at any case so he attacked me with that." But he let his girlfriend wrap her hankie around his brother's wrist.

"Get off him!" Elena noticed Damon struggling for a breather, but Stefan released the pressure on his stomach way too late, so the first thing Damon did was turn to the side and was sick. "Stefan!" She called exasperated, "what's wrong with him?"

"I don't think anything much apart from the amount of drinks," the younger brother frowned, not so sure himself now, "but at least that last bottle he gulped down a minute ago is not in his system anymore," he did a vampirequick round for towels to mop up the mess.

"Damon, are you ok?" Elena rubbed his shoulder sympathetically.

"I kept that bottle for a hundred years and now it's ruined," he grumbled, grabbing a towel from Stefan to clean his mouth.

"See? He's fine," Stefan tried to convince Elena, but he remained next to his brother helping him sit, "he's Damon."

"Uuhhhm," the dark vampire brought a hand to his stomach as he stood. He let Stefan and Elena lead him to the couch, prompting another worried expression from the girl.

"Damon likes to be theatrical and dramatic, you know," Stefan grunted, "and he liked to play on women's sympathy even he was human."

Damon's attention focussed on the bloodbag in Elena's hand, his body aching to heal the damage caused by the alcohol, but he wanted to defend himself foremost, dismissing Stefan's accusations however true, but before he could do any of those, what appeared to be like a dozen members of an SWAT burst through windows and doors, some holding crossbows, some specially adapted guns for wooden bullets.

Elena dropped the blood bag when Stefan jumped her and pushed her out the way of the first bullet shower and under the couch while the quickly sobering Damon was already speeding behind the attackers, snapping necks. Stefan followed his example and by the time Elena scrambled out from under the lounge infelicitous that they have left her out the fight, only a few attackers were remaining who were clearly not interested in her as opposed to the vampires. She took to grab and successfully removed one of the crossbows from a man's hand, too busy to aim his weapon at Stefan to notice the human in time, but he promptly grabbed her by the arm and turned her round to drag her back out from the action, crossbow falling to the ground.

The stout man was concentrating on her now, pulling her away from her vampires and decided it was in everybody's interest to move her out the room. Damon was having none of it though, speeding forward and not round like he did to catch the other team members unawares, he wrapped his fingers round the officer's neck to make him loosen his hold on the girl. It was working, Elena succeeded in pushing his arm from around her and as she turned she watched her assailant going down to the ground, unconscious at last. But not before his other hand dislodged his modified gun from its holder and shot the dark vampire in the stomach at close range.

Elena didn't expect Damon to go down like a sack of potatoes, not even with him being drunk and vervained, not when there still was a battle to fight. His weight pulled her down to the floor as she caught him, her knees breaking his fall as he collapsed into her lap. "No, you don't!" Elena didn't hesitate to get hold of the gun previously used and shoot the next approaching officer. She would be now seen as an obvious threat, but she couldn't let them get to Damon. Elena clawed desperately at his shirt, wanting to see the damage, why was he so pale and unresponsive? "We need you to get up," she shook him, "Damon!" She exhaled loudly, exasperated before aiming her gun again. Stefan was locked in close combat with two more attackers and she was going to help.

"Alaric's training serves you well by the looks of it," Stefan noted astonished after they both took out one officer each.

"Damon's hurt," she waved him over, kneeling by the half unconscious man, his eyes rolling back as he moaned, hands clasped to his midsection.

"We need to take the bullet out," Stefan removed his brother's hands out the way and immediately started to dig for it, "sssss," he hissed at first, but then screwed up his face and tried to insert his fingers into the hole once again, "it must've been soaked in a concentrate of vervain, even the outside of the wound stings."

Elena's first reaction was to look away, but Stefan's struggles were too lengthy, "let me try."

"Okay," Stefan sighed, his two fingers blistering as he pulled them out, "it'll be easier for you to find it, my nerve endings are useless without the skin," his attention quickly shifted towards the door though and he took up a defensive position in front of the other two in case the intruder he was hearing approaching was not of an amiable nature once again.

Liz Forbes took her hat off, frowning in exasperation, "I'm sorry I could not warn you earlier of the council's anti-vampire SWAT coming. I was busy trying to make sure Caroline was safely out of town. I tried to call Damon, but he didn't answer his phone," she scrunched her cap in discomfiture, "and I'm afraid you won't find a bullet in there. Those are projectiles specially adapted to hurt vampires as much as possible. They explode inside the body on impact, with dozens of vervained wooden splinters spreading out everywhere" she went onto her knees beside them and took hold of Damon's hand, "I'm so sorry."

Stefan drew a hand across his face, pained. "What can we do for him?" Elena prompted him.

"How many splinters?" Asked the brown haired vampire, boring his eyes into Liz's intemperately, "and how little would they be?"

"I really don't know Stefan," Liz ventured, "but I would guess 30-40 or so? I've seen them tested. In any case I'm sorry, this isn't your biggest problem right now. I'm quite sure another few SWAT teams are scheduled to come in from twin towns all over the world who also at times have vampire issues. You two have to get out of Mystic Falls."

"When do you think they'll arrive?" Stefan asked.

"Probably not till the morning, but the sooner you go the further you could get. I would suggest you bundle Damon up in the car and deal with his injuries later."

"No. He's in a lot of pain," Stefan shook his head and picked Damon up into his arms, heading into the kitchen, "and he's no use to anyone like this. I'm going to have to do what I can, however little that might be." He set his brother down on top of the counter, making him moan distressed, but he didn't give any other signs that he was aware of what was happening. "This is going to be something like butchery, so you stay out," Stefan ordered the women, "but get me the first aid kit and a few bags of blood first."

Elena complied readily, then found herself hovering towards the drinks cabinet on instinct as she had no choice but to wait. She closed her eyes and bit her lips at the sound of Damon's screams and it didn't take her long till she decided a throat burning drink was in order. She offered one to Liz as well, who gratefully took it and they sat down on the couch hand in hand, squeezing each other's fists encouragingly.

Stefan ambled out a few minutes later, covered in blood from elbow to knees. His face was pale and he blinked at them, looking stressed, "I can't do it. Around ten bigger pieces, that's all I could get out and I've made him in worse shape that he was. With all that vervain and wood in his system, no amount of blood can heal him," he looked from one to the other, at a loss, "I guess I'll just patch him up and we'll deal with it later as Liz suggested."

Elena jumped promptly, rushing past him and into the kitchen despite his half hearted attempt to stop her. Knowing she had to concentrate on his face rather than looking at his injuries, she cupped Damon's face and smoothed his hair out of his ashen features. Noticing his bottom lip quivering and his forehead crinkling, she guessed he wasn't completely unconscious, so she grabbed his hand, bringing it to her lips. "It will be all right, Damon," she whispered, squeezing his fingers to her lips, then looked up with a determined expression, "I know what to do!" She shouted, "we call Meredith! "

tbc


	3. Rhythm

thanks for the reviews! I'm glad we find each other this way :)

Chapter 3: Rhythm

Damon opened his eyes slowly against the heaviness that seemed to push his forehead back into the pillow he felt behind his head. The brightness of the room could only gradually break through the fog before his eyes, but the prompting of a soft hand enclosing his nudged him into wanting to take stock of his surroundings. "Elena?" He blinked, finding his voice hoarse and his stomach smarting. He ignored both, alarmed by the antiseptic smell, the pristine white covers and the drip in his wrist. "I can't be in a hospital!" He jumped, holding his midsection so that he could sit up. It was covered in bandages and felt tender at touch.

"Ssshh, Damon," Elena stopped him from ripping his drip out, "you need the blood and the only way Meredith could take the splinters out your stomach was in the operating room."

"That could be, but we need to get out of here right now, somebody will catch on and I thought the council...uuu," he grunted in pain.

"Please calm down Damon," Elena did her best to keep him from toppling over to the floor when he set his feet down, "Meredith said she has a couple of people she can trust. Who do you think helped her in surgery?"

"Trust. No. One," the vampire utilised her reluctant help to lean on and grabbed the blood bag leading to his arm off the stand with some difficulty. "I think she did a good job tough," he announced after drinking it all up instead, "where's Stefan?"

"He had to go ahead, it could've drawn too much attention to the hospital if he was hanging around as well, but I can call him if you want," Elena assured him.

"Let's just get out of here first. I'm assuming I'd be too late for my plane?" He looked around for something he could wear apart from disgusting hospital gowns.

"Yes, but Caroline's ordering new ones. We're all planning to stay away for a few months at least," Elena produced one of Damon's fresh, blue shirts from her bag, guessing his intentions.

"How is..how are you, Damon?" Meredith slipped in the door.

"Groovy," he ripped the bandages off his abdomen in one slick movement, wincing and grabbed the the shirt off Elena.

Meredith stepped closer, trying to touch his stomach, "let me examine you properly."

"Dear Dr. Fell, I'm a vampire if you may remember aright and not an mundane one at that," he glowered at her, "Elena. My shoes."

"I cannot guarantee there wouldn't be microscopical particles left in there," the doctor said apologetically, "and we don't know what they might do to you."

"Meredith. I need you to go out there and do anything in your power to stop that military brigade coming in here looking for me while we disappear," he asserted.

The physician nodded promptly, trusting his vampire senses the same way as Elena grabbed her bag readily. A moment after Meredith left the room, the fire alarm sounded, set off from just next to Damon's private hospital room. He firmly took Elena's hand into hers and they mingled with the people fleeing the building now that he was properly dressed. A few armed soldiers patrolled the car park, making them hesitate a little and note that two of them were standing right by Elena's mini, so he steered her in the direction of the bus stop.

"Would be hard to believe Damon Salvatore's going to ride a bus," Meredith appeared next to them once again, "go to the staff parking and take my car," she discreetly passed her keys over into Elena's palm, then took off in another direction before they could give thanks her as if she would've just been brushing past in the first place.

Damon shook his head, "she's too good to be true, that woman. But if it turns out to be true, I'll find a way to thank her," he promised. He drove quickly, efficiently, with his attention completely seized by making sure they didn't run into, were followed or detected by any form of authority or armed forces. Without asking her, he did a quick drive through by a deserted McDonald's for her sake hours later, but he didn't seem to want to stop for any more than that.

"Are you not hungry?" Elena asked after she has finished her salad and chips.

"I'm not Stefan," he gave her an irritated look.

"How are you feeling? Are you ok?" She had asked a variation of that every half an hour or so, regardless how his answer was always a gruff 'fine'.

"Bit tired," he admitted.

"Why don't you have a little wink? I could drive. Or we could properly stop and you could maybe find somebody to..to compel and...you know," she couldn't quite bring herself to say anymore on the subject, "and why are we in such a hurry? What are the chances of any vampire hunters around here?"

"We're not stopping right now," he asserted, "I think you are completely unaware of how fast we were moving," he smirked at her as they turned a corner and off the high way, "we're about half a minute away from where we're supposed to meet Blondie and Broodie according to the text you got."

Elena watched openmouthed as they turned into a parking lot where they could see Caroline waving at them goodnaturedly from the porch of the motel they were meant to sleep for the night. Elena jumped out happy she could stretch her legs and went to hug Stefan, the two of them having a little private moment by the side of the building.

"We should all get inside," Caroline commented, "you know, just in case. The rooms are quite decent," she led the way towards one of the green doors on the ground floor.

"Damon? Are you coming?" Elena called back, then let go of Stefan's hand to take a few steps back towards her travel companion to affirm that she was seeing what she thought she was, Damon leaning back on his seat with his eyes shut. She went round to open his door, "come on, you can rest inside."

The raven vampire shook his head, "give me some time, I can't get out right now."

Elena paused confused and looked at Stefan for an idea of what he was making of the situation. Somewhat reluctantly due to his uncertainty, he stepped closer, expecting his brother to rebuke him for showing interest. "Caroline, show Elena the rooms, we'll follow soon," he eventually decided for a course of action, nodding encouragingly at his girlfriend.

"Elena text you've recovered," Stefan put a hand on Damon's shoulder to start the conversation now the girls were walking up the porch.

Damon opened his eyes and looked at him, "I didn't want to worry her and we needed to get away quickly."

"Let me help you," the younger Salvatore put his arm under Damon's shoulders, alarmed by the paleness of his brother's skin and the ease he accepted the help with. Stefan wasn't sure how Damon will react if he scooped the other vampire into his arms, but he attempted it anyway seeing how shaky and jello the legs were Damon had tried standing on. In the end, Stefan ended up carrying him into the room without any complaints, with his head lolling to the brown haired vampire's chest, eyes closed against the dizziness that had encompassed him once he stopped concentrating unwaveringly on the road. "Get some blood," Stefan ordered Caroline, who hurried back out to her car while Elena sat on the bed where her boyfriend had set Damon down onto the pillows.

"But he was fine a minute ago," the girl shook her head, uncomprehending, "Damon, what's wrong?" Her voice was raised as she almost shouted at him, willing those beautiful blue orbs to flicker to the open once again.

"Mmmm," he indicated vaguely that he had heard her, then raised a hand to rub his stomach stiffly.

"Could you get out the way, please?" Caroline addressed Elena on her arrival back from the quick nip into the car park. The blonde held out a blood bag towards Damon, but as he didn't make an attempt to take it, she sat down in Elena's place and took Damon's hand to place the drink into his fingers.

"Damon." Stefan prompted, then at the sight of his unresponsiveness, the ex ripper decided he was going to take matter in his own hand and drove the line on the blood bag they used as a straw into Damon's mouth. Stefan sighed out a little relieved to see his brother had starting sucking and they all watched warily how he was managing. When Damon's eyes opened blinking around, surveying the scene, Caroline decided she was going overboard showing concern for her once boyfriend and retreated into the bathroom for some pampering.

"I'm going to call Meredith again," Elena fussed agitated.

"And what would be the point to that?" Damon sat up, arranging the pillows behind himself in a way it was more comfortable. Elena rushed to his aid, not taking notice of Stefan's frowns at her eagerness.

"Damon's right," he acknowledged, "there's nothing she could do for him now. I've had bits of a stick lodged in my leg once for a few days cause it was in the back and I couldn't get to them, but they do come out eventually all by themselves."

"Yes, well, I'm sure that will be painful and perhaps there are some drugs she could recommend," Elena didn't relent, fishing for her phone.

"Bourbon, whiskey, brandy, tequila, all those will do, there's a bar at the front," Damon raised himself to take matters in his own hand.

"Absolutely not," Stefan stood in front of the door glowering, blocking his way, "no more drinks Damon."

"Absolutely not," Elena stepped to the bed and manoeuvred Damon back it, her main concern focussed on the fact she could easily push him and he didn't argue.

Tbc


	4. Angular Distance

Chapter 4: Angular Distance

Elena squeezed herself to Stefan, hoping that would make her more relaxed. She wasn't very good at deep and long sleeps of late, unless she was exhausted to the extreme and listening to Damon's tossing and turning and his occasional moans didn't make it any easier. Maybe if she could make him more at ease, she could fall asleep as well when going back into her and Stefan's bed. Having made the decision to comfort Damon, she disentangled herself from her boyfriend. Stefan had briefly taken hold of her hand to keep her back, but had to let her go when she squeezed back assuasively, making him understand her intentions. Elena climbed into Damon's bed, much in the same position as she had been with Stefan only a moment ago. "Where is it sore, Damon?" She tried to pry his hands rigidly clawing at his own stomach.

"Mostly just under my ribs," Damon kept his hands stiffly attached to that very region.

"Anything I can do?" Elena gulped in agony herself, becoming fully aware of the extent of his discomfort.

"I don't know.." Damon hesitated, "not as if this happens every day." But he let her fingers slide under his in her resolute, but desperate and senseless attempt to at least touch him where it hurt without a clear idea of how that would help him. Her touch calmed him however, not as much lessening the pain, but distracting him from concentrating on it.

Elena pushed her fingers tightly to the skin of his stomach, the way he had done it previously himself, then instinctively drove her wrist deeper and from side to side. His abdomen was hard, but softened a little when she dug deeper. She quickly realised that he had been self massaging with those movements earlier. Well, she could do that for him, "tell me immediately if I'm hurting you," she assured herself as much as him that she will do no harm, then started to systematically, consistently and thoroughly knead the whole of his upper belly. Having taken the work off him, she noticed him relax soon, his breath coming more evenly, his fingers ceasing to twitch. "Are you ok?" She paused tensely at his moan.

"Don't stop," he urged her, "I'm sorry it's just sometimes hard to completely suppress or ignore my reactions. I'm not superman, ok?"

"You don't need to act like superman either!" She reproached his earlier behaviour in the car, "I just wish I could help you Damon," she massaged on with a feel of urgency, conveying all her wish in the tender, rubbing slow circles round his bellybutton with fingers made to tremble by the possible importance she attributed to her actions. His muscles contracted with what she could only assume was a painful cramp and she couldn't stop her eyes from watering in sympathy, "I'm so sorry I cannot do any more. I'm sorry I can't make you feel better," she repeated and planted a kiss on his forehead.

Damon did have to take a conscious effort to control his breathing so that he could speak through the pain to let her know that despite his distress, her presence and intent made him the happiest being in the entire universe. He wedged his fingertips under her caressing fingers and squeezed, pressing the heel of her hand deeper into his stomach, "you already do," he assured her, eyes shining brightly even in the darkness as he revelled in the proximity of her, "thank you for caring about me. You're a good friend."

"Whenever you need me Damon, I'll be there," she reassured.

"I need you now.." The vampire trailed off, eyes squinting, his teeth ground together as he tried to repress another wave of spasms. He curled to lean into the hand that resumed massaging his belly till the tense muscles gave up the death grip on his stomach. Damon took a deep, shivery breath at last and noticing his relaxing for a moment, Elena took the opportunity to pull the covers over them and have themselves nestled under. She caressed him in a gentler manner now, not wanting to upset the precarious balance of those muscles, more stroking, rather than kneading. Damon adjusted his position too, then adjusted again, giving the impression he was still uncomfortable.

"Sshhh," she cooed into his ear, lips ticking his earlobes. Her comforting was helping temporarily, she knew, he was drifting, eyes fluttering closed. Elena modified her touch once more, stroking the relief of his abdomen with smooth fingertips softly. Damon not needing her full attention anymore, she became aware of her own increased heart rate. She had been so worried about him, feeling his suffering as if it would've been her own. But now that he had calmed down, why would her heart not settle? Why would she feel increasingly excited tracing the outline of his well defined six pack?The answer was obvious, the same reason why she had not been able to resist him in that motel room by Denver. Her breath was caught in her throat and she had to admit his every fibre of his being affected her, emotionally, physically, mentally. How long would she be able to keep up an apathetic façade for the sake of Stefan? Her burning desire threatened to overthrow her longanimity and forbearance. She looked down at the gorgeous man at her fingertips and snuggled down to enjoy their togetherness, feeling guilty that she was glad his illness gave her an excuse to be able to openly show affection even with Stefan being in the room. It just wasn't fair. Why was she not free to love both of them? Moreso, why does she have to feel this obligation to stand by Stefan? Stefan! There was a definite huffing sound coming from his direction and Elena could not kid herself on anymore that her practical caring for Damon will go unnoticed. But that could be a problem for another day. Her eyes were stinging with tiredness and for a while, she would forget about her fucked up and complicated feelings and situation. The young woman closed her eyes burying her nose in Damon's soft hair and started dreaming of a world where there was just her and Damon and no complications. When she opened them again, the room was bright with the morning sun and Caroline was sitting up in the bed across, staring at them disapprovingly.

Elena disentangled herself from Damon, glad that he seemed to be peacefully at ease sleeping. She glanced behind, "where's Stefan?" She frowned. Caroline stood up and thrust a letter at her, written in Stefan's handwriting.

My Dear Elena,

if you ask Damon, he will tell you that I had never been very good at sharing and I can assure you, I will never be able to share you. So far, I had turned a blind eye to the intensity of your affections towards Damon, but I could not blot out the sound of your deafening heartbeat, playing the tune of Damon's every little movement. It is an excruciation I can no longer endure.

Take good care of my brother, will you?

Your loving,

Stefan.

Tbc


	5. Planetary

Chapter 5: Planetary

Elena stretched her legs on the luxurious, sizeable bed, even bigger than the one Damon had at the boarding house. No matter the space though, she would not untangle her arms from being wrapped around the vampire's chest. "Damon. When were you planning to tell us you owned a billion dollars interiorly ultramodernised old mansion with a pool, indoor car lifts, walk in refrigerators, steam rooms and five acres of olive trees in Italy?"

The dark haired vampire shrugged, "I don't like it when people judge me by my money."

"How did you get all this?" Elena asked not without a hint of suspicion.

"You want me to say that I only compelled villainous aristocrats and gave the poor their share before retaining a certain percent?"

Elena looked at him pleadingly, "I don't want you to think I'm always judging you, sorry," she winced and quickly changed the subject, "how are you feeling today?"

"I'm feeling good, Elena," Damon yielded reluctantly. He didn't feel weak or had any cramps since they had arrived to Florence and he took Elena in his arms to allow both of them to give into the tiredness they felt after their travels, but he couldn't quite be entirely happy with the implications of his stomach not needing her comforting touch anymore.

Her hand moved instinctively from his side to his tummy, her small fingers gently probing his muscled flesh around the area that usually bothered him, "does it still hurt?" She asked, concern colouring her softly spoken words.

"Just a little tender sometimes," he replied truthfully. He could not bring himself to play on his injury because he was meant to be honest with her.

"I'll be the judge of that," Elena finished her cursory examination and pressed a little deeper to get an idea of possible cramps, like she knew she could feel his discomfort that way, she often did. The long haired woman took to cover a larger area as well, hand going lower to his hips and coming back up in the middle, brushing over the soft, light hairs of his pleasure trail. The feel of them unsettled her a little, the sensory stimulation in her fingertips way too pleasant to ignore. When he had been in pain, she naturally concentrated on comforting him, but now that he seemed well enough, it was hard to ignore the intimate nature of their interaction. Elena became a bit unsure of the necessity of her probing all of a sudden, blushing, so her fingers barely ghosted downwards to his groin, the only area of his stomach she hadn't checked yet. As if fire burned her, she snapped her hand away, startled when she more accidentally than not, trailed over his trousered penis.

Damon's smile was benevolent, rather than impish at her scare and she brought her hand back to grip and hold splayed on his lower belly. "You worry about me, we've established that. You care about me, we've established that. You can't keep your hands off me, we know that. But I'd like you to tell me why."

"Do you really need to ask that?" Elena pulled away, sitting up.

"Yes, I do. I do things like that to myself all the time, I torture myself. But I just need to know, even if the answer is unfavourable."

Elena shook her head vehemently, "that was never my intention. It was all so messed up, Stefan, you and me. I was hoping we could all stay together."

Damon sighed, "I could find him for you. I know his pattern."

Elena shook her head again, "I wanted both of you. Not just him. And he wouldn't accept the three of us together."

"But why Elena, why? You never told me why. You never told yourself why."

"I've told you, I don't want to lose you."

"Why?"

"Because I love you all right! Why are you so pushy!"

"I just wanted to hear that. Say that again?"

Elena sighed, lenient. "I love you Damon," she looked him in the eyes.

The End.


End file.
